NBA PLAYOFFS : Jealous Mouths That Roar Don’t Fluster the Lakers

This playoff series has been far too tranquil for Mychal Thompson’s combative nature, so the free-thinking and fast-talking Laker center is trying to change that with perhaps his most potent weapon--his mouth.

Preparing for tonight’s third game of the best-of-five National Basketball Assn. first-round series, which the Lakers lead two games to none, Thompson said he believes that the Trail Blazers genuinely dislike the Lakers and are jealous of their dominance in recent seasons.

“They hate us,” Thompson said. “I know that just from talking to them all summer. They don’t respect the Lakers one bit. There’s a jealousy there.”

A former Trail Blazer, Thompson keeps a summer home in nearby Lake Oswego.

He also said he has seen evidence of disrespect in the first two playoff games, such as Portland center Kevin Duckworth body-slamming Magic Johnson late in Game 2 on Sunday.

Some Trail Blazers, and some Lakers, laughed off Thompson’s comments.

“Can you take anything Mychal says seriously?” Portland guard Terry Porter asked. “That’s the guy who wants to be prime minister of the Bahamas.”

But other Portland players said that Thompson knows what it is like because he used to hate the Lakers, too, before joining them during the 1986-87 season.

“Ever since I came up here to play (1978-79), the Blazers would always come close to the Lakers but never beat them,” Thompson said. “It drives you crazy. After a while, you’d build up a hatred. They get sick of seeing us.

“I lift weights (in Portland) in the summer with Jerome (Kersey), Steve Johnson and Terry (Porter), and all they talk about is how they are going to overtake us.

“You can see that lack of respect in the way Duckworth knocked down Earvin and how Clyde (Drexler) was knocking around A. C. (Green) at the start of last game. That’s what I mean by hating us. They don’t look intimidated at all.”

Those minor incidents aside, it almost appears as if the Trail Blazers have shown too much respect for the Lakers during this series.

They hardly have put up a fight in the first two games at the Forum. They never led either game and had only brief surges of strong play, such as the 23-8 run in the last six minutes of Game 2 to avoid another 20-point blowout.

Publicly, at least, Portland’s players and coach, Rick Adelman, have praised the Lakers’ dominance thus far. But the Trail Blazers say that playing at home, where they lost twice to the Lakers during the regular season, will improve their play significantly.

Kersey, asked if the Trail Blazers dislike the Lakers, said: “I think we do, more or less. In my five years here, you’re always being compared to the Lakers. They are the top echelon, and you get tired of hearing about them.

“When Mychal says we don’t respect them, it’s because we can’t respect them. Three or four years ago we were like that and we got intimidated when we played them. Now we try to do the opposite. We can’t let them think they’re better than us.

“People always try to compare us. Any time you mess up, you hear the same thing. It’s like, ‘Well, the Lakers wouldn’t have done that.’ But you have to realize that we’re not the Lakers.”

The disparity between the teams never has been more evident than in the first two games of the series. The closest the Trail Blazers came to leading during the second half of either game has been three points.

Portland has made 42.9% of its shots, the Lakers 51.8%. The Lakers hold a 95-86 rebounding advantage over the taller, more physical Trail Blazers. The Laker bench, considered a weak link this season, has outscored Portland’s reserves, 57-48.

Such lopsided statistics are hardly fuel for a feud, especially since the Trail Blazers have lost seven straight games to the Lakers this season, including all five regular-season meetings.

But the Trail Blazers say they don’t like feeling inferior to the Lakers and that the feeling serves as motivation, even during regular-season games.

“It’s not a hatred like Detroit-Cleveland,” Porter said. “It’s a respect-hatred type of thing. We’re trying to get respect. They get up to play us. They do that against any team trying to beat them. But I think we get up more for them.”

Drexler, the team leader who is averaging 29 points and slightly fewer than 10 assists in the two playoff games, took it upon himself to clarify Thompson’s statement.

“I don’t think we hate them,” Drexler said. “But we don’t like them, either. That’s the general consensus. It’s not resentment. It’s a lack of respect. You’d like to beat the . . . out of them.”

Laker players did not seem particularly upset when told that the Trail Blazers are not exactly fans of theirs. In fact, they seemed more annoyed at Thompson for speaking out than anything else.

“That’s just Mychal,” Johnson said. “He’s the one who spends time with them and lifts weights with them, so I guess he knows. I’m only close with Clyde, and he seems like he likes us.”

Pat Riley, the Lakers’ coach, simply shrugged.

“They aren’t the only team that feels that way about it,” Riley said. “But I don’t really see (hatred) on the court. It isn’t hatred, it’s envy. If that is, in fact, what’s coming from them, I think they are channeling it in the wrong direction.

“They may be (envious) because they look at us and see a team that’s playing together, that’s won for a long time, that’s got all the pieces together . . . “

And one that has won 17 consecutive first-round playoff games and is one victory from advancing to the Western Conference semifinals.

Laker Notes

The Lakers had all 12 players practicing Tuesday at the Coliseum for the first time in two weeks. Reserve center Mark McNamara, rehabilitating a badly sprained right ankle, participated and ran for the first time since suffering the injury. . . . Byron Scott, playing despite a sore right hand, said a day off Monday helped the condition. Scott has been receiving daily treatments of ice and electronic stimulation. “A couple of days ago it got so bad that I couldn’t even use it to open the refrigerator,” Scott said. “It got all purple and swollen around the palm. It would hurt when I’d go to shoot the ball.”

Portland Coach Rick Adelman said that he hasn’t settled on a starting lineup. He might again start Danny Young at guard and move Clyde Drexler to a forward to improve the Trail Blazers’ running game. Adelman’s other option is to start Sam Bowie at power forward to give the Trail Blazers another 7-footer to go with center Kevin Duckworth. Bowie, bothered by a chronically sore right ankle, did not practice again Tuesday but probably will play. “We’ve got to get off to a good start (tonight),” Adelman said. “We used the small lineup (Young starting) the other day to try to do that, but Clyde got in foul trouble and we couldn’t use it. But I like that lineup.”

Laker Coach Pat Riley said he expects to see Portland’s small lineup again. “Rick never got what he wanted out of that lineup because of the foul trouble, so we don’t know how it would’ve worked,” Riley said. “All I know is that they’ll play better at home. They’ll be more relaxed.” . . . Adelman said that it is a mistake to believe that the Trail Blazers have given up, which is the sentiment among many in Portland. “That’s a natural assumption, but I can’t concern myself with that,” Adelman said. “I don’t think it’s over, but I can understand people’s logic. We’ve lost seven straight to them. But we’re a much better team at home. I think the Lakers will want to finish us off quickly. But once we win a game, then you can’t tell me we won’t win again on Friday night (in Game 4). Then, in a fifth game, anything could happen.”

The Lakers have airline reservations for Thursday and Saturday, pending the outcome of tonight’s game. “We want to win the first game, take care of business and get outta here,” Scott said. “We didn’t come up here thinking we have to win one of two. Let’s win and go home.” . . . If the Lakers win tonight, it will be the sixth consecutive season in which they have swept a first-round playoff opponent. . . . In the last three seasons, the Trail Blazers have lost four of six home playoff games.